Curse (Sleeping Beauty)
The blessing of an inheritance was double-edged for Mr. John Dashwood. There was so much abundance for his first family, while the second were almost left out completely. But the girls were each so gifted: Elinor's steady goodness, Marianne's fey beauty, and Margaret's precious charm. Surely, with time, he could provide enough to see them comfortably settled.
That hope was dashed by the black haze of disease, heralding disaster for the survivors more than the dying. He gasped a final wish of provision to his son.
The misfortune of a loved one's parting was sorrow enough for the present; the future would instruct the Dashwood girls what evils dependence could eventually bring to their lives.
Charity Vaunteth Not Itself (Six Swans)
"Ho, Brandon, we shall have three ladies here tomorrow!" Sir John Middleton announced gaily.
Mrs. Jennings laughed. "Two sir; I dare say Miss Margaret will have her day, but thirteen is full young for the colonel's notice."
Lady Middleton changed the subject, leaving Sir John to compliment the Dashwoods in person rather than inflate their virtues earlier.
"So lovely, and talented too!" were his after dinner remarks while Miss Marianne played. "Who knew I had such cousins? Like sprites out of the woodwork."
Colonel Brandon nodded but evidently desired more communion with the music than his host, and Sir John marvelled at his and the ladies' restraint when the evening drew to a close. As Mrs. Jennings opined, "The meek may someday inherit the earth, but meantime we poor sinners must make our own way. Let us get those girls here more often: I am sure we can find them someone to marry."
Tuesday’s Child is Full of Grace (Little Red Riding Hood)
"Hello Mr. Willoughby." Margaret waved at him from where she balanced on the edge of a stump. He smiled and called her pretty, which she liked, and bade her not spoil her dress, which was too near scolding to enjoy. "Where is your sister Marianne this fine day?"
"Reading by the front window." With a child's cunning she added, "So she says, but I think she is looking for someone."
"Then it would be best not to disappoint her." He winked in genial understanding before continuing on to the cottage.
Margaret could not understand at all why Elinor sometimes frowned at such a good-natured man.
Mother (Thumbelina)
It was a brief, inauspicious meeting: Miss Morton had never been much in society, and Mrs. Ferrars enjoyed it so often that she was ignorant of anyone feeling otherwise. The girl soon bowed out of the conversation during their morning call, only nodding now and again or offering a monosyllable answer when called upon. She had far more interest in the garden they passed to enter the house than the prospects of either Mister Ferrars being discussed.
Their hostess condescend to walk them to the door. "I compliment you, Lady Morton; anyone would be proud to claim her. Knowing the sire, it is a wonder you have raised up so poised and respectful a creature."
It was a further wonder, Miss Morton mused to herself on the way home, that Mrs. Ferrars could know anything of the matter, being so lacking in the very qualities she claimed to admire.
Wrath (Snow White)
Bess thought at first there must be a mouse in the parlour; she had just finished laying out the tea service, and was returning to the kitchen, when Mrs. Dashwood's shouts brought her running back. She found a different creature entirely, as the lady of the house towered over her guest like some storytale witch. "Charlatan! To take advantage of our generosity, and plot all this time against our family: have you no shame?"
In answer the trembling Miss Steele dropped her dainty cup, bringing even further abuse down upon her. At least Bess could hide behind tidying up, though she wished she might turn invisible or at least deaf. Instead she was forced to hear every shriek and insult, even as she made for the safety of the door. "Get your things and be gone at once, you and that false chit of a sister!"
A sudden gasp was all the warning Bess received ere the very girl fell into her arms and drew the unwanted gaze of every eye. She prayed as never before, terrified. It was a right proper fit Mrs. Dashwood was in, and if she could toss out two smart things like the Miss Steeles so easily, who at all was safe?
Stings be Borne in Wretch's Rue (Rapunzel)
A certain poetic justice had sprung up in the life of Edwards Ferrars: a mordant harvest both sown and reaped. He fell into an engagement as much to thwart his mother's ambition as adolescent infatuation. Now that lady's rebellion against his plans distressed his avowed bride as much as Ferrars himself. At least this guilt was leavened with some hope of redemption by clerical study and employment.
But his moral courage faltered during his interview with Miss Dashwood. At first he was ashamed to see her at all. Then he was shamed again by her kindness. But worst of all was discovering the germ of his salvation: the care and condescension of a richer, wiser, altogether better man, "a friend of mine."
Ferrars murmured his gratitude as they parted, and barely kept himself from leaping down the stairs to flee the house. His fate no longer felt poetic or even just, but darkly tragic. Like Oedipus, he longed to shield his eyes from the truth but could not. He must take this budding chance, for Lucy's sake, and so would be required to not only watch but perhaps participate in the binding of Elinor to another.
Deal (Rumpelstiltskin)
When solicited to say whether their newborn son appeared ill, Mr. Thomas Palmer made bold to disagree with his wife. Were not all babies red and fussy?
He then had the mortification to discover he had accidentality agreed with his mother-in-law, an event so rare he looked twice at the child to see if it was in worse health than originally imagined.
The pent up emotions of new fatherhood must have some release, even if it was only annoyance at summoning medical aid he was still doubtful of needing. He was even more vexed, when said man arrived, not to give the boy's name correctly.
During the examination, Mr. Palmer decided it was a fair trade of funds to gain two or three hours' escape at his club.
Constitutional Safeguard (Puss in Boots)
London's duelling grounds were unknown to the gentlemen who arrived that morning: the more stylish fellow never considered anyone would call him to attend, while the older soldier had until now felt no cause so dire.
When it came time, Willoughby was still finagling his newly purchased pistol when Brandon took his shot.
"How could you miss?" was his second's astonished challenge while the colonel cleaned his own well-used gun.
"I aimed as I intended."
"And were you not afraid he would take advantage and fire upon you?"
Brandon nearly spoke his mind, that a man should not fear a rat. Instead he pocketed his handkerchief, betraying no other sign of disturbance from his brush with death, and adjusted his flannel waistcoat with intentional composure. "I am inured to further harm by painful experience. May others be less cruelly instructed by my forbearance."
Regret (Frog Prince)
"It is natural you should feel indebted to a man exhibiting such loyalty, and so superior to yourself," was the preamble by which Robert Ferrars meant to separate Miss Lucy Steele from his brother. She listened and even wept, her contrition evident if not explicit.
"But you must not wed, you can not desire poverty," was the lynchpin by which their interviews turned from said brother's ill fortune to the greater state of his own.
Though he had yet to enter a full metamorphosis of feeling, she grew steadily less anxious of securing every pecuniary advantage a Mrs. Ferrars ought to enjoy.
Golden Honeycomb (Hansel and Gretel)
The Dashwood sisters were no strangers to loss. Neither, indeed, were their new husbands. Some souls were easier to mourn, for being dead, while others lived to pain them anew. But there was a fellowship here as well, for they all possessed a brother worthy of regret.
With new families installed at the Parsonage and in the manor, Delaford became a hive of restorative activity. And whenever the Ferrars and Brandons gathered together—as they pretty nearly did every day—they found it sweet to enjoy, at last, relations who produced joy enough to replace all past sorrows.
